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February 2009

Un-Copyright Notice

It's FREE!

Description: Please note. Anything you find on my blog is yours for the taking. Please use, share and make money from anything I have created and posted here excluding anything refering to Heal My Hands because that's how I make my living. Now mind you, this only applies to MY work, craft and cooking related. Patterns, sources and information credited to others still belongs to them and you would have to ask their permission as usual. But otherwise - what's mine is yours. I won't sue you - I promise. There's just too much of that going on already.

February 01, 2009

So I went over to Amazon to put a couple of new books on my wishlist. When I signed in, Amazon greeted me with a lovey selection of recommendations. Underneath, I notices a tag cloud of what I'd been looking at recently. Facinating.

January 09, 2009

So we were at a Thanksgiving dinner at our neighbor's house on New Years eve. Yes, I know, this in itself could be considered odd, particularly since she stopped by to invite us just that morning. The poor thing was involved in a gall bladder purge during the Thanksgiving holiday and was not able to prepare nor partake in, the traditional feast. She had been feeling very sorry for herself and decided, on the spur of the moment, to replicate the event for New Years eve. We never pass up an invitation to a feast, so off we went, across the street and up the hill, sort of like over the river and through the woods, except without the river and the woods.

Mikhala had cooked up a storm and we joined a neighbor from down the hill at her groaning table. It was all absolutely delicious and I ate entirely too much turkey and stuffing and gravy and homemade cranberry compote and would have eaten more if I wasn't too embarrassed to pass my plate for 4ths. It was lovely.

After dinner, we ate chocolate tofu mousse, chatted about sporting accidents we had endured, the neighbors who weren't in attendance, and our New Years Resolutions. The revelations started to my left and proceeded around the table until it was my turn. I hesitated, debating whether to reveal my resolution to this table of not family nor psychiatric professionals. I could lie, and fit myself in with either the "no resolutions" or the "practical resolutions" camps, but I didn't have the nerve or the imagination. So finally, after hemming and hawing, I told them.

I resolve, in 2009, to learn the lyrics to Istanbul (Not Constantinople), and to learn how to sing it on key, note for note.

Everyone was silent for a moment, then Mikhala gave me a long look, and finally managed to say "Wow, Claudia, that's deep." I know she was teasing, but it stung nonetheless. I felt I had to justify myself, which led to an explanation for my peculiar choice. I started by telling everyone that I had had that song in my head as an earworm for the last month, and that I had never learned all the words, and that I would alternately sing it and hum the parts I didn't know, which if possible, could be even more irritiating to my companions that to have to hear me sing it all the way through. I had decided to put an end to this ridiculousness and just learn the damn song.

This didn't evoke a single sympathetic look. They all just stared at me, finally nodding in seriously fake sympathy. Mikhala surreptitiously removed all the knives from the table. And I just sat there. Humming Istanbul (Not Constantinople), quietly, to myself.

In case you are wondering, the cover is by They Might Be Giants, and if you wish to have this song for your very own earworm, click here.

And if you want to learn it with me and sing along:

Istanbul was ConstantinopleNow it's Istanbul, not ConstantinopleBeen a long time gone, ConstantinopleNow it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night

Every gal in ConstantinopleLives in Istanbul, not ConstantinopleSo if you've a date in ConstantinopleShe'll be waiting in Istanbul

Even old New York was once New AmsterdamWhy they changed it I can't sayPeople just liked it better that way

So take me back to ConstantinopleNo, you can't go back to ConstantinopleBeen a long time gone, ConstantinopleWhy did Constantinople get the works?That's nobody's business but the Turks

Istanbul (Istanbul)Istanbul (Istanbul)

Even old New York was once New AmsterdamWhy they changed it I can't sayPeople just liked it better that way

Istanbul was ConstantinopleNow it's Istanbul, not ConstantinopleBeen a long time gone, ConstantinopleWhy did Constantinople get the works?That's nobody's business but the Turks

So take me back to ConstantinopleNo, you can't go back to ConstantinopleBeen a long time gone, ConstantinopleWhy did Constantinople get the works?That's nobody's business but the Turks

December 05, 2008

James Thurber, in his youth, had a dog named Rex, an America (pit) Bull Terrier, who could drag an old dresser home and carry two by fours. Thurber said Rex never picked a fight, but if challenged would join the fray happily. Rex usually won by locking onto the other dog's ear, closing his eyes with a beatific grin, and hanging on. One memorable fight ended when someone called the fire department. The firemen hit the two dogs with a stream of water that pushed them two blocks before Rex let go. Clearly, he won.

RULES!1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

September 24, 2008

Today, I put my crafting skills to use for 8 Arms Creative. 8 Arms, for those of you who've never head of it, is our creative consulting group. We help small business, start-ups and folks who have a product they want to take to market, to get going. We do print, package design, manufacturing assistance, sourcing, well, pretty much everything someone just getting started needs. We've been doing this for years, but never put a name to it or created an identity for it. Santa Fe felt like the place to do this.

So we decided on a name and printed a business card. The website isn't even finished yet, but we've already gotten several clients. This morning, A and I were talking about perhaps putting some cards up in our frequented shopping locations, and I didn't want to do that tear-off-a-strip thing, so... CRAFTY TO THE RESCUE! Out came the Lutradur and the Steam-A-Seam, and the fabric paint and the sewing machine and an hour later...

VOILA:

Looks like suede doesn't it? Want to know how I did it?

1. First I cut the rectangle size I wanted out of paper.

2. I traced it onto lutradur and steam-a-seam.

3. I fused the two pieces of lutradur together.

4. I painted both sides with Jaquard textile paint in brown, thinned, but not completely blended with a little water. This way, there are some darker and lighter areas (hard to see in the photo)

5. I put the wet sheets out into the sun to dry, flipping them a couple of times (with the bright sun and dry air, they were dry in no time)

6. I took a Caran D'ache water color pastel crayon in dark gold and added a couple of veins. I scrubbed at them a bit with a little stiff, wet brush. Back in the sun to dry.

7. When they were dry (a matter of minutes) I carefully made a fold to show the whole company name and stitched the edges.

8. And that's it! I could have coated them with Golden Medium gloss if I wanted a shiny leather look, but A liked the suede look, so we're done!

September 12, 2008

1) Bold those you have read.2) Put an asterisk next to those you started but didn't finish.3) Italicize those you intend to read (or have started and intend to finish).4) Red the books you LOVE5) Reprint this list in your own blog.

September 08, 2008

Sort of sounds like it was a dark and stormy night. Only without the dark and stormy. And the night. Right. We had a good weekend. We drifted in the boat on the pond, saw two of the new fish, but no turtles, it seems like they've gone to the mud. We baked, made cheese, went to a poetry reading, I worked on my Go Figure quilt and a bit on the shard pins, which I'll show you when I have them finished. So photos, yes?

First, the printed and tea bag collaged quilt sections. I only have photos of two of the sections, the other two were too dark to post and I didn't feel like taking more, but I think you get the idea.

Now, the St. Lucia Buns. Anthony made these absolutely delicious soft rolls and they were gone practically before they were cool. We didn't eat them ALL, mind you, we did give two away. There are recipes for these all over the Internet, if you want this one, email me. I'm too lazy to type it right this minute for the post.

And finally, the cheese. We swapped eggs for goats milk with a neighbor up the street from us. I don't know what they made with our eggs, but we made two types of cheese with their fresh goats milk! First, a simple Lebanese Chevron, a hand molded cheese made with vegetable rennet. After draining it and molding it, we cut it into cubes, rubbed it with salt and Zaatar (a spice Lebanese mixture) piled them in a little jar and covered them with olive oil. YUM! *Note: we heated the curds and why further, after they had formed, to encourage a firmer textured cheese we could cut).

Then, after allowing the remaining whey to sit at room temp overnight, this morning we made ricotta (means re-cooked in Italian and no photos of this, it looks pretty boring). How cool is THAT. Two cheeses out of one milking. Granted, there wasn't much cheese since we only started with a gallon of goats milk, but it's still always incredible to me that while we waste continually, our ancestors wasted nothing. Oh, and I fed the whey leftover from the ricotta to the chickens. In this case - nothing wasted at all!

September 04, 2008

So I've been busy with several things, some quilted pot shard pins for my quilt guild's Quilt Show coming up in October. They're collecting things for the gift shop and our sig (special interest group), The Art Quilters have done several things in addition to the pot shards to donate for the shop. The Go Figure project, and some random knitting, though I have just realized thatI need to knit Suleiman a coat for the cold weather.

If anyone has suggestions for a nice synthetic blend, I'm all ears. I'm SO done knitting dog coats out of wool for various reasons. I really want to knit him the Stegasaurus Coat that I did for Toby a couple of years ago, but I seriously don't think I'll get Anthony to go for it.

Here at Heal My Hands, we've also launched a new line of products that we created for Natural Soda. They are truly amazing, with delicious fragrances I created from essential oils and absolutes. I particularly love the Moisturizing Body Polish which fizzes as you rub it on. Incredible if I do say so myself. I'm pretty darn proud of us!

We've also launched a client website (albuqcookie) and have two new clients. Needless to say, I've been a bit wrapped up lately.

And now that I've typed redux, I can't actually remember if I posted my
first fabric collage. Well, if it turns out I've only posted it to
Flickr, I'll post if here tomorrow. I've finished another fabric collage and truthfully, I'm lovin' this. I think maybe I didn't get enough glue time as a kid or something, because cutting and pasting these bits of fabric and getting something to hang on the wall without picking up a single spool of thread just thrills me.

Though on this one, I did burn the poppies to get the fabric to curl, and I did use sand... but still, it was mostly glue. Cool, huh?